Rural counties see cost of crime double

Alistair Heath said he had three tractors, four GPS receivers and power tools stolen

Farmers saw the cost of crime rocket in some counties last year.

Figures from insurer NFU Mutual show customer claims more than doubled in Shropshire and Herefordshire with vehicle theft being a big issue.

Organised crime was an increasing problem for farming and was causing widespread concern, the firm said.

Claims as a result of crime also rose significantly in Staffordshire and Worcestershire and across the West Midlands as a whole.

'Makes me furious'

Alistair Heath runs a farm in Great Bolas, Shropshire, and was targeted by thieves last week. He had three tractors, four GPS receivers and power tools stolen and said it had been a shock to the system.

"A group of lads had broken into the farm office and taken every key for every vehicle," he said. The tractors were later found dumped in some woods.

The value of claims in Shropshire in 2022 rose by 102.7%

The GPS receivers are "shy of £10,000 a piece", he added.

"We had an incident 18 months ago so make sure everything is locked away but obviously that isn't enough.

"Makes me furious as we all work so hard".

'Opportunist thieves'

Neil Wagstaff, who works for NFU Mutual in Telford, Shropshire, said: "Rural theft is changing. It is not only opportunist thieves travelling a few miles, we are now seeing internationally organised criminal activity."

He said these thefts were causing "huge disruption to farmers who are already stretched to the limit".

The rising value of farm machinery has created a market for criminals, NFU Mutual said

In the East Midlands, claims by NFU Mutual customers fell in Derbyshire and Northamptonshire and rose by 19.1% in Leicestershire and 12.1% in Nottinghamshire.

But the big increases in the West Midlands saw rural crime reported to NFU Mutual across the entire Midlands rise by 30.1% to £11m in 2022 - the biggest regional rise in the UK.

The figures for the West Midlands counties showed rural crime up:

• 129.7% to £1.17m in Herefordshire

• 102.7% to £2.09m in Shropshire

• 77% to £1.7m in Staffordshire

• 42.2% to £1.18m in Worcestershire

• 8.8% to £1.2m in Warwickshire

According to data collected by the insurer, thefts of GPS tracking equipment, used to guide farm vehicles, increased by 15% across the UK in 2022.

Thefts of quad bikes and all-terrain-vehicles rose by 34% compared to 2021, it said, while thefts of livestock rose by 8.7% across the UK.

NFU Mutual said it believes the rise is linked to "soaring values and low supply" of farm machinery worldwide.

It said criminal gangs have "responded by establishing illicit global markets for farm machinery".

Organised criminals

There were "unique challenges" in policing large rural areas and organised criminals were becoming increasingly sophisticated, West Mercia Police said.

It said it was having to be creative itself to tackle this and its rural teams were working with rural communities.

Group chats have been set up to get information more swiftly, the force added.